Filling and closing machine



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Filed NOV. 22, 1947 L. MGGIHON FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE L.. MGGIHON FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE Dec. i953 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 22: 1947 A 2 0 V/ an i. 7

Nm m WN a r w MV/r e 4 A m i 7, y i kw@ @Sum M.. I@ @S ec. l, 1953 L. McGlHoN 2,651,134

FILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 22, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Arme/vir n Dec. l, 3953 L. MoGlHoN vFILLING AND CLOSING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed NOV. 22, 1947 Dec. l, 1953 MGGIHON FILLING AND cLosING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed NOV. 22, 1947 N mw W1. VM W@ 4 M E /Q Dec. 1, 1953 L. MOGIHON 2,651,134

FILLINGAND CLOSING MACHINE Filed Nov. 22, 194'? 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Patented Dec. 1, 1953 Ul'i'ED STATS AT osslcs FILLNG AN D CLOSING MACHINE Leonard McGihon, San LeandrmCalif., assignor to King Sales & Engineering Co., San Francisco, Calif.

The present invention relates to filling and closing machines and is concerned more particularly with an. improved machine of this character which is useful in connection With large size con tainers such as gallon cans, for example.

It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved filling and closing machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the above character in which the cans or other containers are carried past respective filling, lid depositing and lid seaming stations in an automatic fashion with a timed control of the operation of the mechanisms at the various stations.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the above character in which the lid seaming mechanism is independently driven in cyclic fashion in time with the operation of the other parts of the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the above character having an improved mechanism for depositing lids on the cans.

Other objects and advantages of the invention `will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, as disclosed in the accompanying drawings, in Which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a filling and closing machine embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional plan View of the machine taken as indicated by the line 2 2 in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional View taken as indicated by the line 3 3 in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken as indicated by the line i-ll in Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the can lift mechanism and the drive therefor as indicated by the line 5--5 in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional vievv of a portion of the drive means for the feed conveyor as indicated by the line 6-5 in Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional View of a portion of the drive means for the discharge conveyor taken as indicated by the line 'i-'i in Figure 4.

Figure 8 is a detail sectional View of the lift mechanism and the conveyor drive taken as indicated by the line S-8 in Figure 5.

Figure 9 is a sectional elevational view of the conveyor mechanism taken as indicated by the line 9-9 in Figure 2.

Figure 10 is a detail vierty of the Geneva. drive mechanism taken as indicated by the line iti-fill in Figure 3.

Figure 11 is a detail view of the belt tightener construction taken as indicated by the line i im! i `in Figure 9. l

'of the Geneva gear 32. v'gear 32 is secured to the shaft 33 through a slot- Figure 1'2 is an enlarged sectional elevation of one oi the lid depositing structures.

General description Referring to Figures i and 2, the niling and closing machine includes a box type frame or body Iii of cast construction and support-ed at its four corners by legs ii. The upper portion of the frame i@ has secured thereon a sheet metal cover ita which provides a circular can-Way E2 which leads from a feed conveyor I3 to a discharge conveyor iii. The can-Way i2 extends past a filling station i5, a lid depositing stati-on i5, and a lid seeming station il. The cans are fed in intermittent fashion past these stations by a feed turret I8, which is driven in step-by-step fashion as later described, to move cans successively from one station to the succeeding station and which dwells with cans at the respective stations for a period during which the various lling, lid depositing and lid seaming operations are performed at the various stations.

Drive mechanism Referring to Figure 3, the drive means of the machine includes an electric motor 2i which is mounted on an internal ledge 22 of the frame casting lil and which is connected by a suitable chain and sprocket drive 23 with a transverse drive shaft 24 (Figures 3 and fl) journalled in opposite bosses 26 of the frame it. The vari-ous instrumenta-Eties for feeding of cans through the machine and for lifting of the cans at certain of the stations into operative engagement are driv` en from the drive shaft 2li.

To effect the intermittent drive of the feed turret I8, the shaft 24 (Figure 3) carries a bevel gear 25 which meshes with a bevel gear d iournallcd on a stub shaft 21 secured in a boss 28 of the frame H3 in a convenient fashion. The bevel gear 38 carries a drive disk Si (Figures 3 and 10) of a Geneva mechanism including a Geneva gear 32 secured at the lower end of the vertical drive and support shaft 33 for the feed turret IS. The usual Geneva drive roller 34 is mounted upon the drive disk 3l for cooperation with the four slots Preferably the Geneva ted adjusting collar 3B so that appropriate timing adjustment can be made at this point.

The turret i8 (Figures 2 and 3) carries four bell crank feed arms 3l, each pivoted thereon by a stud 3S and urged by a spring 3S against a stop 4B. The projecting arms of the bell cranks Si are curved to rconform to the contour of the can being fed around the can-way I2 by the feed turret I8.

lrom the above description it will be seen that the feed turret I8 receives an intermittent stepby-step movement so that during each step of movementJ a can will be carried through a path corresponding to one-fourth revolution. of the turret. Also a dwell' is provided between successive movements of the turret in operative aligned relation with the respective operating stations..

Conveyor mechanisms.

The respective feed and discharge conveyors I3 and i4 (Figures 1, 2, 3 and 9)l are. similar and are similarly mounted with respect to the frame of the machine.

The feed conveyor I3 comprises a belt' about respectively driving, and idler drums. lllv and 42. The upper stretch of the belt is carried by a flanged plate 43. The driving drum M is ]'ournalled` about a support shaft dit (Figure 8) secured in a boss l5 of the frame. The driving drum IH is disposed within the frame I() and the belt I3 enters the frame through a slot i6 in the upper wall thereof and leaves the frame through a slot 15'! in the side. wall thereof.

The drive for the driving drum: 4I (Figures 4 and 6) includes a sprocket 48 thereon which is engaged by a chain 49 whichis trained about an idler sprocket 5G on a stub shaft 5! carried by a bracket 52 pivote'd on the drive shaft 24. A drive sprocket 53 on the shaftv 24V (Figure 6) engages a chain to impart a counterclockwise rotation to the sprocket i8Y and the driving. drum 5I as viewed in Figures 5 ando.

At its outer end the feed belt I3 is trained about the idler drum 42 which is `iournalled on a suitable shaft supported: in. respective bearings 5'! carried by a belt tightener screwV 58 (Figures 2' and l1) which carries a nut". 5e engaging the end of a support pipe IiiL which extends along side the conveyor I3 and at its other end is supported in a4 boss' 62l of the frame. Preferably, the respective pipesZ 6 I. at either. side of' the belt IS are connected to a center. support standard 63 (Figures. 1. andV 9) which. sup.- ports the outer end of. both the feed belt. I3 and. discharge belt Iii.. The support plate 4.3 for the feed belt I3 is mounted on the frame casting I5 and the standardi.v

The discharge belt M is similar in. its. construction and mounting to the feed belt I3- and differs only in the arrangement of the drive parts. Referring to Figure. 7, it. will be seen that the drive sprocket 45a, the idler sprocket Sila and the drive sprocket 53a for the discharge conveyor or belt are in a different arrangement by virtue of a reverse mounting of thev bracket 52a. The driveA sprocket 53a is. effective with respect to the inside of the chain 49a and as a result drives the drum. Hm and its sprocket 48a in a clockwise direction as. viewed. in Figure 7.

From the above. description. it is seen that the respective. feed and discharge conveyors. I3 and I4 are arranged and driven to.. feed. cans to the entrance. of the can-way I5 andf to receive and remove cans from. the exit thereof.

As seen in Figures 2 and 5, the belt I3- is in alignment with the cover sheet lila of the base I so that the cans slide without interruption from the belt onto the can-way I-2, which is partially overlapped by the belt I3. The cans are guided inwardly toward the turret. IIS: by

a yieldable guide rail (i6 (Figure 2) pivoted at 6'! on the frame I0 and urged counterclockwise by the spring t8. The yieldable guide rail 66 is generally v-shaped and has its outer end held against movement inwardly by the circular guide rail 69 suitably secured on the frame of the machine. to form the outer wall of the canway I2. The nose of. the V-shape is provided by a roller 66a. Cans such as indicated at 'Il in Figure 2 as they are moved onto the canway by the belt I3 are guided inwardly by the yieldabley rait E36 to engage the feed turret I3 for pick-up. by one of its feed arms or bell cranks it?. By virtue of ie V-construction of the rail G6 a can which is not sufficiently advanced at the moment of engagement by an arm 3'.' is orced. backwardly along the conveyor' 3, while a can. that has passed the point of the V is engaged with the arm, 3'! and travels around with it past the various processing stations. If a can has a straight line or direct engagement with the roller 65a of the V, the rail (i6 yields to allow the can to shift to either side of the nose.

Filling station The4 filling station comprises a suitable form of tank it secured on a pair of parallel cross angles 'ITI which are supported at one side by an upstanding bracket from thetable I0 and at the opposite side by a similar bracket 19. Associated with the lling tank T5 is a conventional form of spring-urged lling valve including a spring-urged head die and a valve BI. Any suitable form of valve which opens in response to lifting the can may be employed.

To effect lifting of the can, a can lift plate 82 (Figure e and. 5) is mounted at the upper end of a iift shaft t3 slidably journalled, in a boss 84 of the frame I9 and carrying at its lower end an adjusting screw B engaged with a roller 8'! at one end of a bell crank 88 pivoted at. 89 on the frame I0. The other end of the bellcrank S8 has a roller. 9! engaging a cam 92 secured on the drive shaft 2P; by means of an adjustable coupling plate The rise of the. cam 92 is such that the plate 83 is in its upper position as shown for the major portion of. the dwell between each movement of theY turret I3, being lifted at the beginning of a, dwell and being lowered just before the end of the dwell..

Thus a can on the lift plate 82, as shown in Figure 4, will be engaged with the filling valve and lled tothe desired head space at the filling station.

Lid depositing station The. lid depositing means includes a support bracket 95 (Figures l, 2,i 3 and 12.) which has a plurality of bosses 9'! engaging below the. cross angles. 'Il and secured thereto. by suitable bolts. Thev bracket 9B, as. seen. in FigureA l, extends to one side of the cross angles 'V to a position overlying the. can-way at the lid depositing station I6. The bracketSS is apertured at 98 (Figures 2 and 3) at the station I6 and carries four posts IGI about the. aperture 98. The posts IG! are spaced to be tangent to a stack of lids IGZ in vertical alignment with a can '!I at the lid depositing station. The stack of lids |02 are supported on a pair of opposite lid support and control ele.- ments |03 having their res ective bosses IGI! secured on respective support and operating shafts |06 mounted in the bosses In! of the frame bracket 96. Each element I03 comprises a pair of axially offset disk segments |0311 and |0311. The knife-edge disk segments I03a normally support the stack of lids, while the auxiliary stack supportinor segment I03b is spaced vertically with respect to the disk segment I 03a to accommodate one lid between the segments and serves to separate the lowermost lid from the remainder of the stack upon depositing of the lowermost lid. Each of the support shafts |36 and the disk segments i693 thereon are under the in iluence of a spring IM, the leftmost assembly in Figure 2 being urged counterclockwise and the rightmost assembly being urged clockwise. The stop arms iiil in the respective bosses engage a rib sta to limit this spring urged movement.

The shafts |66 of the disk assemblies carry respective operating arms III (Figures 2 and 3). The stop position of these support disk assemblies places the operating arms III therefor in the path of a can being moved into the lid depositing station and provides can voperated means for oscillating the respective disk segments |63 to first move the disk segments ||l3b into supporting relation with the stack of lids immediately above the lowermost lid and to thereafter move the disk segments Iila out of supporting relation with the lowermost lid 62 so that it will fall on a can aligned therewith upon the completion of the forward movement of the disk assemblies.

At such time the disk segments |2311 remain out of supporting relation with respect to the stack of lids. Upon the return movement of the disk assemblies, the disk segments Ii3a are moved back into supporting relation with respect to the stack of lids and thereafter the disk segments iiib are moved out of supporting relation therewith to drop the stack on the disk segments Hita ready for another lid depositing operation.

With some products it is desirable to provide an oxygen free inert atmosphere within the can, and for this purpose a pipe I I6 (Figures 1, 2 and 3) is provided adjacent the lid depositing station having apertures disposed to direct an oxygen-free gas into the top of the can just before the lid is deposited. The pipe IIS is supported at its lowermost end from a valve II' having valve operating fingers IIB (Figure 2) disposed in the path of rollers I I9 carried by the pivot studs 38 of the can advancing fingers or arms 3i. The valve H1 is connected to a suitable source of oxygen-free atmosphere such as nitrogen, for example, and the relation of the rollers H9 and the arm II8 are such that the valve is opened to inject the nitrogen just ahead of the time for deposit of the lid on the can.

Lid seeming mechanism At the lid seaming station I'I (Figures l, 2 and 4) there is provided a lid seamer |2| of conventional construction provided with a cyclic drive including an electric motor |22 and a drive control arm 923. The body of the lid seamer is mounted on the bracket 'i9 and is provided with a centering chuck 52e and seaming rollers |26, all of conventional construction. The lid seamer 2i is aligned with the lifter |2'I which is identical in all respects to the lift mechanism associated with the filling station. The lift bell crank 83a (Figure '7) for the lift plate |27 provides an offset lever arm to apply pressure to the can during the seaming operation and in effect supplies a yieldable or resilient pressure means.

rihe lid seamer7 as stated above, is of the cyclic operable type and its operation is timed to occur during the dwell between the advance of the cans CII and for this purpose its control arm |23 is connected by a link I3| with an arm |32 secured at the upper end of a shaft |33. The lower end of the shaft |33 (Figure 3) carries an arm |313 (Figure 10) which is disposed in the path of a cam segment |36 carried by the drive disk 3| of the Geneva mechanism. 'I'he cam segment |35 initiates the cycle of operation of the seaming mechanism at about the time the can has been lifted to engage the lid thereon with the can chuck as shown in Figure 4. The cycle of operation of the seamer continues until the can chuck I 24 has been rotated a sufficient number of times to perform the lid seaming operation. When the cycle is completed the seaming rollers remain in inactive position until a seaming cycle is again started by the cam |36.

Operation The operation of the machine may be briefly summarized as follows: The cans to be filled and closed are placed on the feed conveyor I3, for example, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, and they are carried by the conveyor I3 against the yieldable guide rail 36. The ll-shape construction of the guide rails 66 directs a can in towards the feed turret 8 for engagement by one of the yieldable feed arms 31.

As previously explained, the feed arms Si and the turret I8 are driven one-quarter revolution at a time in intermittent fashion so that a can engaged with the feed arm 31 will be carried successively through the lling station l5, the lid depositing station I6 and the seaming station I'i. As a can is fed onto the can lift plate 82 at the filling station it is aligned with the spring-urged head $0 of the filling structure and upon lifting of the plate 82 the can is engaged with the head BQ and moves it upwardly to open the valve so that the material being filled will now into the can up to the desired head space in the can.

The above operation occurs during the dwell in the movement of the feed turret I8.

Upon the next step of movement of the feed turret I8 a can filled at the filling station is carried to the lid depositing station and placed in alignment with the lid depositing structure, yas shown in Figures 2 and 3. As the can enters this station it engages the operating arms III so that the support disk segments |3365 and i231) at either side are oscillated to first engage the segments w3c below the next lowermost lid of the stack and then to remove the support of the segments |631) from the lowermost lid so that it will drop upon the can. Just before the lid falls on the can the valve II 'i is operated so that gas from the pipe i I6 is blown into the head space of the can to substantially displace the air therein.

Upon the next step of movement of the feed turret IIS the filled can with the lid thereon is moved to the seaming station onto the lift plate or lifter |21 in alignment with the centering chuck |24 (Figure 4) of the lid seamer. At the beginning of the dwell between successive steps of movement of the cans the lid seamer has its operation started through the linkage |32--I3i and the cam I 36, and the can is lifted until the chuck |24 engages the lid and through its engagement with the lid rotates the lid and the can with respect to the seaming rollers |2. The conventional lid seaming operation is then performed and completed before the lifter |21 is lowered and the turret again operated so that the closed can is moved onto the discharge conveyor I4.

While I have shown and described .certain preferred embodiments of the invention, it is apparent that the invention is capable lof variation and modification from the forms Ashown Aso that its .scope should be 'limited only by the scope 5 of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

l.. In a can filling and closing machine, afilling ion including a lling valve, a lid station a closing station including l0 a eyelieally operable iid sealner and normally inn active drive means therefor, a turret having a series of can supports ier travelling successively gh said sta ions, means or effecting ,an ind lid seamer during each dwell of said turret, said lid seamer 20 tion to complete a lid seeming ener -:Ming vone of dwells in the movement of said turret.

2. In a can iilling and closing maehineVa lling station including filling valve, a lid station in- 25 oluding a lid feeder, a closing station including a cyolioally operable lid seamer and normally inactive drive means therefor, a can support for ravelling successively through said stations,

means for eieoting an intermittent drive of said 30 can support to provide successive dwells in the motion thereof with said can support at each of said stations, and means for initiating operation of said valve, said lid feeder Vand said lid seamer during each dwell in the movement of said can support, said lid seamer being timed in its operation to complete a lid seaming opera- .8 tion during one of .said dwells ,in themovement of said can support.

Y3. .In a filling .and closing machine, a fixed filling station .including Aa filling valve, a xed lid station including a lid feeder, a .xed closing station including a .lid seamer, .a xed arcuate can-way for supporting cans for movement past the respective stations, a rotatable turret having a series of spring thrust radially extending members for engaging .the sides of .the respective cans and moving them along said can-way while supported by said `can-Way, means for effecting intermittent drive Aof said turret to provide successive dwells .in the motion thereof with one of said can .engaging members .at -each of said stations, and means for initiating operation `of ysaid valve, said `lid :feeder and said lid seamer during each dwell -in .the movement of said turret.

LEONARD MCGIHON.

References 4Cited in the Yle of this patent UNITED ISTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 966,647 Brandt Aug. 9, 1910 1,270,797 Dunkley July 2, 1918 1,273,651 Norton July 23, 1918 1,409,211 Anderson etal Mar. 14, 1922 1,454,931 Konefes May 15, 1923 1,892,042 Markus et al. Dec. 27, 1932 1,997,351 Tevander Apr. 9, 1935 2,029,823 Huntley et al Feb. 4, 1936 2,177,818 Bagby Oct. 31, 1939 2,341,498 Bell Feb. y8, 1944 2,385,004 Kittess Sept. 18, 1945 2,397,297 Sonnenberg Mar. Y26, 1946 2,417,938 Krueger .Mar..25, 1947 

